Saturday: Books Day

In the morning we went to the post office to pick up the books that the
postman had tried to deliver last Thursday. The books were
a payment in exchange for writing a Perl program
about a year ago. For some reason I didn't receive the orginal order made in August last year
or so. Since someone else had made the order, I couldn't contact Amazon directly on this. So I
had to contact the person I had helped with Perl, and he had to contact Amazon again and again.
And finally Amazon shipped a new order the 17th of July, and today I could finally hold
the following books in my hands.

A field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of the Maya World

I had put this book my my wish list because I want to learn more about the reptiles and amphibians
we encounter during our hiking trips. While we mostly walk in the state of Veracruz, some of the
species in "A field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of the Maya world" can be encountered
in Veracruz as well as became clear when I browsed throught the beautiful but small color photos
in the book. Species I have seen in the state of Veracruz include the house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) - which
we even get in our house now and then, the
black-striped snake (Coniophanes imperialis), the redback coffee snake (Ninia sebae),

The book can be though of as having two parts. The following chapters are in the first part (
with a short summary based on the sections):

Introduction

Area covered, How to Use This Book, Conservation, and Organization of Species Accounts

Environment

Physiography, climate, and environment

Habitats

Coastal, Agricultural, Freshwater, Forest, and Savanna habitats

Composition of the Herpetofauna

Taxonomic composition of the herpetofauna of the Yucután Peninsula

The second part (one chapter) is called Species Accounts and is subdivided as follows:

Amphibians

Caecilians

Salamanders

Frogs and Toads

Reptiles

Crocodiles, Alligators, Caimans, and Allies

Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins

Lizards

Snakes

The book has 191 small color photos: 31 pages with 6 photos on each page,
and one page with 5 photos. Furthermore there are a lot of drawings and distribution
maps. My first impression of the book is a very good one. I hope to be able to visit
the Yucatán peninsula next year, and it looks like this book will provide me with
a good idea what I might be able to see, and hopefully take photos of.

Dive into Python

Several years ago I had printed the free PDF version of Dive into Python besides
the Python tutorial and read both of them. Later, I had
planned one hour a week to study
Python in more detail, but after several weeks I got too busy with work so my
study of Python came to a halt.

So over a year ago I put the book on my wish list, both because I wanted a
real version of the book instead of just a print out and because I wanted to
support Mark Pilgrim; I think he did an excellent job with Dive into Python
(thanks Mark!). And today the book was finally in my hands.

The contents at a glance as given on page v of Dive into Python lists
18 chapters:

Installing Python

Your First Python Program

Native Datatypes

The Power of Introspection

Objects and Object-Orientation

Exceptions and File Handling

Regular Expressions

HTML Processing

XML Processing

Scripts and Streams

HTTP Web Services

SOAP Web Services

Unit Testing

Test-First Programming

Refactoring

Functional Programming

Dynamic Functions

Performance Tuning

Anyway, I hope to start diving into Python really soon, but first I want to study
a different book: Mastering Perl (see below).

Dive into Python related

Mastering Perl

Even though I have been programming Perl professionally since 1994 I am aware that there
is still so much to learn about Perl. The reason for putting Mastering Perl by brian d foy
on my wish list, resulting in me holding a copy of the "vicuña" book today, was that I was convinced
that this book contains quite some new information to satisfy my hunger for Perl, and
remind me of several things I had forgotten about, because I never used them.

The book "Mastering Perl" by brian d foy has the following chapters:

Introduction: Becoming a Master

Advanced Regular Expressions

Secure Programming Techniques

Debugging Perl

Profiling Perl

Benchmarking Perl

Cleaning up Perl

Symbol Tables and Typeglobs

Dynamic Subroutines

Modifying and Jury-Rigging Modules

Configuring Perl Programs

Detecting and Reporting Errors

Logging

Data Persistence

Working with Pod

Working with Bits

The Magic of Tied Variables

Modules as Programs

The book has also an appendix dedicated on books brian d foy recommends. Some of those books
I already own, others I certainly will consider for my wish list. The second Appendix
is "brain's Guide to Solving Any Perl Problem", which can also be found online. A must read
for anyone, especially before posting to the Usenet group comp.lang.perl.misc, or an online
forum. While reading and understanding the guide might seem like a lot of work (and hence time),
after a (short) while you will save a lot of time because you are able to solve most problems
yourself.